High vigor disease resistant-apples, help me pick

General Fruit Growing
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So I’ve seen a lot of threads on disease resistant apples, but none of them are really answer my question regarding vigor.

I want to plant maybe half a dozen disease resistant apples, but I also want to future proof my selection to be optimal for any grafting done in the future.

I was reading several grafting manuals and books, some related to apples some not. Many made the point that grafting a strong variety on a weak variety results in suboptimal or uneven growth.

You can usually graft most varieties of one particular kind of fruit interchangeably. But, because some varieties grow faster than others, placing a strong variety on a weak variety often results in considerable overgrowth. Delicious apple on Jonathan and sweet cherries on Montmorency sour cherry are examples. Such Combinations can stimulate earlier production, as with sweet cherries on Montmorency, but may cause structural weakness.

With apples, certain combinations appear to be better than others. Delicious grafted onto several varieties, such as Ben Davis, Arkansas Black, or Red Astrachan, grow almost as though no topworking has been done. But in certain other combinations, growth is sub-normal and unsatisfactory. Delicious on Winesap is an example, and in some locations, Van cherry on Mahaleb.

source - Synder, John S. Grafting Fruit Trees. Washington State University. 1965

It seems there’s enough information here and there about a lot of the established varieties, but does anyone of experience with the newer disease resistant varieties?

I was thinking of picking a few of the following, but would like to know their vigor relative to one another. Does anyone grow multiple disease resistant apple cultivars that can make the comparison?

The list of released disease resistant apples is long, but I know that Freedom, Liberty, and Empire often turn up in any thread discussing resistance. I’m mostly looking for apples probably closer to a macintosh flavor with scab resistance; fire blight would be a nice plus. I saw Novamac is a “newer” release, but I haven’t seen much written about it.

References to disease resistant apples
table by perdue
table by ontario dept agri.
table by portland nursery
table by Montana SU
table by UWisc

perdue chart

perdue_resistantapplechart1
perdue_resistantapplechart1700×2415 189 KB

apple_releaseyear

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Hi,

orangepippintrees has a useful catalogue search function for this kind of thing. Here’s what I got when I searched for varieties with good disease resistance, very good scab resistance, and greater than average vigor.

Crimson Topaz (classed as “slightly large”)
Enterprise (“vigorous”)
Florina (“vigorous”)
Freedom (“slightly large”)
Liberty (“vigorous”)
Suntan (“very vigorous”)
Williams’ Pride (“slightly large”)
Wolf River (“vigorous”)

And here are results from their UK site, in case you’re interested in a few more names:

These are, of course, commercial nursery sites, so keep that in mind, but orange pippin is a respectable reference.

Hope this is helpful!

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Novamac is a very nice apple…we have someone close by who grows these and says he highly recommends them…they are smaller than a Mac but very similar in taste…I couldn’t tell them apart if I didn’t know what I was eating. So…there is a recommendation from a grower, and myself who bought them and ate them. I have a few here…some are new this year but one I planted 5 years ago is among the healthiest looking of my trees (throughout the season)…while many of my apples start off looking great in the spring early summer then succumb to bugs or disease…often looking good and healthy again with a new set of leaves as it cools off later in the season (some get trounced all over again)…I don’t spray anything and the Novamac looks good all season. …as does the Liberty next to it.

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Just looking at the chart above…would also agree that Haralson seems a good pick…It is definitely one of my best looking apples throughout the season…(note we have a problem here with eastern red cedar invading where the indigenous hardwoods and softwoods were cleared for farm fields…creating high rust pressure) and Haralson seems very unaffected year after year) .they are also growing through a black plastic mulch…( the Haralsons I mean…not the Novamac or Liberty) which was not necessarily the plan long term…but many of those I have in that area with the black plastic are growing vigorously…I’m a bit surprised as it can get really hot here in Ontario in the summer…I wouldn’t have thought that apple tree roots would tolerate that heat around the rootzone…but I have a Connell Red on the black plastic and another just 25 or 30 feet away NOT on black plastic and they were both planted at the same time…the black plastic one is overall about 4 times the size…considering height, bushiness and girth of branches and trunk all together. I have read that apple trees do not do well if they do not get off to a good start…well the black plastic certainly gets them going…having said that I have had to hack my trees off on the main trunk sometimes quite low on the trunk…for various reasons…and have been surprised at them growing back as well as they have…so I think there is truth to them needing a good start…but having a few years worth of root growth also helps them come back well if they have to suffer a setback…so I don’t know in the end if it really matters .

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I’d second Wolf River. There’s a good list given earlier in the thread of others.
I have an apple I’ve never positively identified, that was supposed to be a Mac but definitely isn’t…that meets your criteria.

King David is the closest I’ve come with a “match”…so I grafted it last spring and someday will have both apples side by side to see if they really are the same.

Vigorous, healthy, attractive, good fruit that hangs well into October (until somebody turned bears loose in my area).

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My Williams Pride are a little tart and crisp-ish and early. Without spraying I lost maybe a third to something that might be black rot last year. I’ll try some fungicide next year.

But the tree is vigorous and powering through with no assistance from me, right next to a Cedar tree heavily infested with cedar apple rust. So its disease resistance does not seem exaggerated to me.

The Enterprise and King David next to it are the same age but not as vigorous for me, and aren’t bearing yet. And my others are only babies.

Talking farmers market… Pristine and Crimson Crisp are DELICIOUS. A little tart with good crunch. If you want something softer, Goldrush tasted like yellow delicious to me. Liberty has been very variable from the local orchard…but for me a “bad” Liberty is one that is softer like a Mac…so that might appeal to you! Florina was similar.

For what it’s worth…my kids always told me they didn’t like apples until I realized my taste for crisp apples meant they hadn’t ever tasted a soft apple…and when they did they both loved it. Sooooo…

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